Floyd Mayweather Expects Easier Rematch Due To His Versatility

Floyd Mayweather has the desired rematch with Marcos Maidana, but now wants a more complete victory this time.

Mayweather, 38, defeated Maidana, 31, back in May via split decision. Yet, some in the boxing world felt that Maidana had actually won the match, so we have the rematch set up on September 13. According to Michigan Live, some feel Mayweather is a dirty fighter, and deserves another chance at the title, reports the Epoch Times.

“Maybe he’s right. Maybe I am dirty. But look, if I’m dirty, he’s also dirty,” Maidana said through a translator. “I’m gonna do whatever he does to me.”

Maidana also stakes his claim that Mayweather is dirty. “He’s dirty. When he fights, he uses the elbows,” he said. “He does that with a lot of opponents, but they don’t reciprocate it, so I did it. In this fight, I did it, and I gave it back to him.”

And Maidana also said that Mayweather is “not as good as people think. “I was able to pin him to the ropes and throw a lot of punches, so he’s not as difficult as people think, or invincible. He’s actually hittable,” he said. “That’s the thing that people don’t realize. You can land on him. I made mistakes, I was a little too anxious, but I’m working on correcting them. You can actually land punches on him.”

According to Michigan Live, however, Mayweather thinks his versatility will keep him undefeated at 46-0. “What I can do, what makes me a little different than any other fighter, is I’m well-rounded and very versatile, as far as I can box, I can counterpunch, I can bang, I can do a little bit of everything. That’s why I’m at the pinnacle in the sport right now. Can he switch up anything? I don’t really think so. I mean, that’s just my gut feeling,” Mayweather said.

Asked if he believes Maidana deserved the rematch, Mayweather offered a potentially telling response: “Self-preservation, as far as I come first.”

“Of course, it still was a very, very exciting fight,” he said. “Even though he was fighting extremely dirty, it was a good fight. But I know I won, I clearly won, and he knows I clearly won.”

Mayweather, by far the craftier technician, has a deeper toolbox than Maidana and figures to pull greater strategic benefits from their first fight together. He already taken Maidana to the 12th round once. He is 16-0 in 12-round fights. Maidana is 3-3.